Dance Until You Die
by YinYangWriter
Summary: A trail of bodies is being left in the Miami clubs and no one sees anything. But a mysterious girl found at one of the crime scenes may know more than what she lets on.
1. Chapter 1

**This has been in my head for a few weeks, but I haven't been able to get it down on paper. I usually don't do prologues, but I'm trying something new. I want to know what you think of this and if I should continue with this story. Please review since my review board is open for EVERYONE. I do not own **_**CSI: Miami**_** or **_**Danny Phantom**_**.**

* * *

The club was alive with the pulse of the beat of the bass. The music was so loud. People were on the dance floor dancing like there was no tomorrow.

A girl who looked like she was much too young to be there was trying to make it through the throng of dancers, attempting to get to the exit. Her black hair was plastered to her pale face. She looked at the DJ's booth and saw the man at the turntables. She knew the man, not just who he was, but what he was. The girl also knew this was too much for her to handle on her own. She had to find her friends as fast as she could.

A dancer bumped into her and something fell from her ear. Another dancer stepped on it and smashed it to pieces. The girl covered that ear and doubled her efforts to get out of the club. Another dancer smacked into her and something fell from her other ear. The girl searched for what fell for a second, but began to run, her hands clasped over her ears. She couldn't get to the main exit. She looked around for a fire exit. She spotted one not far from her. She started to run for it, but crashed into someone. Her hands fell from her ears to try to stop her fall. She hurried to get off the floor, but as she did, her violet eyes glazed over and she began to dance with everyone else.

"Danny, help," she whispered before she lost herself completely to the music.

* * *

**Okay, that's the first bit. Please let me know what you think.**


	2. Chapter 2

**From what I hear, so far you guys love this. I'll do my best to keep everyone in character. Thank you for the support.**

**After receiving a review from HaiJu, I have decided to edit Chapters 2 and 3 a bit. Thank you very much, HaiJu, for your review and suggestions of making this story better.**

* * *

Several ambulances, squad cars, and even a fire truck were parked outside of a Miami nightclub called Lunar Moth. EMTs were removing people from the club as quickly as they could. Some patrons were being taken out on gurneys and others were able to walk out. Crime scene tape was put up around the front of the nightclub and most of the parking lot and the street outside was closed so the ambulances had a place to park.

Horatio Caine was standing off to the side watching things go by, waiting for the EMTs to finish their business. The redhead lieutenant wore his signature sunglasses that reflected the images of the EMTs and police passing by in his field of vision.

A balding man in his fifties wearing a suit walked up to him. "Horatio," said Detective Sergeant Frank Tripp in his gruff voice.

"Another mysterious murder?" Horatio asked, though it sounded more like a statement.

"Murders," Frank corrected. "Three are dead. The rest are being checked out and are on their way to the hospital."

A Cuban man walked over to them.

"Eric, what do we have?" asked Horatio.

"Not much," said Eric Delko. "Everyone says the same thing; they were just dancing and the next thing they know they are waking up on the floor."

"Just like the other two," said Frank. "How the hell is this happening?"

Seeing the scene was clear, Horatio and his team began to enter the nightclub. The place was a mess. Tables and chairs were shoved to sides of the room, the bar had footprints all over it, and the entire dance floor covered with broken glass and sticky with beverages and blood.

A man with thinning blonde hair was already examining the first victim, a man in his early twenties. Dr. Tom Loman looked up at Horatio and shook his head. "This is looking like a serious case of deja vu," he said to the redhead. "I have never heard of anything like this and here I am seeing it three times in two weeks."

"This shouldn't be happening," said a blonde woman with a Southern accent. Calleigh Duquesne came over to stand beside Horatio and looked at the body.

"Clearly we are missing something," said Horatio, removing his sunglasses.

"Three nightclubs have had people just drop dead from dehydration and exhaustion and no one can remember anything about that night," said Calleigh. "Someone knows something about all this and they're not saying anything about."

"Not unless someone roofied all their drinks," called a brunette man from across the dance floor. Ryan Wolfe, the youngest member of the team, had his flashlight out and was searching the floor for evidence.

"We checked everyone, Wolfe," said Eric.

"There has to be some explanation," said Calleigh.

"And we will find it," said Horatio. He took out his flashlight and began searching the dance floor as well.

"Hey, H," said Ryan. "I think I got something here."

Horatio walked over to where Ryan was kneeling down. On the floor were pieces of something green along with some circuitry.

"What is that?" asked Horatio.

"It looks like a Bluetooth headset," said Ryan. He took out his camera and photographed the pieces before bagging and tagging them.

"I got something over here," said Eric.

Horatio moved over to Eric. He had found what looked like a Bluetooth headset, too, only this one was intact. It was green like the other one.

"I don't know if we can get any viable DNA off of it," Eric said. "It's covered in Bacardi."

"We may get lucky," said Horatio.

Eric nodded and bagged the evidence.

Horatio looked back at where Ryan found the pieces of the headset and then turned to where he was standing.

"Look, all I'm saying is that there has to be a way this guy is doing this," Ryan was saying. "People don't just all black out at a nightclub at the same time and wake up to find the person their lying next to dead. Now that's happened three times in two weeks and everyone's saying the same thing; they don't remember."

"So what do you think?" asked Eric.

"I'm thinking mass hypnosis," said Ryan. "The killer manages to hypnotize everyone and then he kills whoever his target is."

Eric chuckled.

"What, you think I'm kidding?" asked Ryan.

"You should hear yourself," said Eric.

"You have to admit, it does sound crazy," said Calleigh with a straight face.

"I don't see you coming up with any explanations," defended Ryan.

Eric looked at Horatio. Horatio appeared distant. He was looking from where they found the first headset to the other.

"What are you thinking, H?" asked Eric.

"That we're missing something," said Horatio.

Eric looked where Horatio was looking. "You think there is more than one person involved in this?"

"Yes, and possibly more," said Horatio. "Why else would you need two headsets?"

Horatio looked up. He saw an exit sign not far from where they found the second headset. It was pointing around the corner to the fire exit.

Dr. Loman finished his preliminary examinations of the three victims. "I'll know more once we get them back to the morgue, but it looks like they died from dehydration and exhaustion."

"Just like the others," said Calleigh.

Horatio walked around the corner to the fire exit.

"Two dead in the first nightclub, one in the second, and now three here," said Calleigh.

"Make that four," Horatio called.

Eric hurried over to where Horatio was. Eric found Horatio shining his flashlight on a teenage girl with pale skin.

"Aw, man," muttered Eric.

The girl's hair was black, some strands pulled back from her face in a high ponytail, and she wore a black tank with a purple oval, a black and green plaid skirt, purple tights, and black combat boots. Her dark makeup was smeared over her face.

"She doesn't look old enough to be here," said Eric.

"Which leaves the question; what is she doing here?" said Horatio.

"I'll get Tom," said Eric.

Eric turned to get Dr. Loman.

Horatio grabbed his arm. "Eric," he said.

Eric turned around back to the body of the girl.

"What is that?" asked Horatio.

Eric looked at the girl again, this time more closely. Horatio looked with him. A few pieces of hair were hanging in front of the girl's mouth. The hair moved slightly.

"Eric, I think she's still alive," said Horatio, dropping to his knees and checking for a pulse.

"Oh, my God," said Eric, falling to his knees on the girl's opposite side.

Horatio checked for a pulse at the girl's neck, pushing her choker necklace aside. The girl's hand shot out and grabbed Horatio's wrist.

"Help," she whispered hoarsely, violet eyes fluttering open slightly.

"We need a medic!" roared Eric.

"Hold on, sweetie," Horatio said to the girl. "Help is coming."

The girl's eyes fluttered closed again.

* * *

**YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!**

**And cue theme song! I know I tore a page out of CSIalchemist's handbook with this, but that always had some effect in the show.**

**I know this chapter isn't that long. Originally I was going to combine the opening and this chapter together, but I wanted to get part of it up as quick as I could so I divided it. The next chapters will be longer, but I don't know when the next time I will be posting. I have several other stories in the works in the process of being posted so you may want to check those out (Gargoyles: Special Talents, Chaotic: Walks of Life, Danny Phantom: His Body).**

**Again, thank you, HaiJu, for catching my mistakes and adding some suggestions to make these chapters better.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I decided to post two chapters instead of one. I'm working on multiple projects at the same time and this week's work schedule could possibly put a damper on things. Chapter 3 is in the works, but while you wait, you can check out some of my other stories or CSIalchemist's CSI crossover series, because those things are freaking sweet. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and favorite storied this piece so far.**

* * *

The doors to the ER burst open as two paramedics, two nurses, and Horatio ran in, pushing the gurney with the teenage girl who was thought to be dead. Horatio had a hold of the girl's hand.

"You hang in there," Horatio was saying to her.

The girl's eyes were fluttering open and shut.

"You're going to be okay," said Horatio. He looked at the throng of people who were running to see what they could do. One of them was a familiar face. "Alexx!"

Alexx Woods ran over and looked at the girl. She looked at Horatio. "I got her, Horatio," she said. The ex-medical examiner turned to the girl. "I got you, baby."

Horatio, knowing that the girl was in good hands with Alexx, let go of the girl's hand.

* * *

Eric walked into the lab with the evidence they collected from the club. He took the headsets to Natalia to see if she could get DNA from them.

"Hey," said Natalia when Eric walked in. "How's the girl from the club?"

"She's at the hospital," said Eric. "She's listed as a Jane Doe. No ID and she hasn't said anything since she grabbed H's wrist."

"Where is Horatio anyway?" asked Natalia.

"He's at the hospital waiting for the girl to wake up," said Eric.

"Must have scared the crap out of you when she woke up like that," Natalia said.

Eric gave a somewhat nervous chuckle. "Yeah. I wasn't expecting her to move."

"Well, one less body in the morgue is a good thing," said Natalia.

"That's true," said Eric. He put the bags of evidence on Natalia's desk. "See if you can get anything off these headsets."

"Sure," said Natalia, putting a pair of gloves on.

* * *

Calleigh walked down to the morgue to see what Dr. Loman had on the three bodies.

"I just started, Calleigh," Dr. Loman said when she entered.

"Well, what do you have so far?" asked Calleigh.

Dr. Loman sighed. "From what I can tell, these three died the same way the other three died: dehydration and exhaustion."

He walked over to the first victim. "Victim number one — Joey Marshall, age 22. He was a junior at MDU."

He moved to the second victim, a young woman. "Victim number two — Alyssa Douglas, age 24. She was a receptionist at a law firm."

Dr. Loman went to the third victim. "And victim number three — Winifred Williams, age 22. She was a waitress at a Red Robin. Yum."

Calleigh gave Dr. Loman an incredulous look.

"Sorry. Completely uncalled for," Dr. Loman apologized. "These two weeks have been strange ones. I've been trying to find humor when I can."

Calleigh looked at their recent victims. She frowned. "Hey, Tom."

"Hm?"

"Did you notice the bruising on their feet?" asked Calleigh.

Dr. Loman took a closer look. All three victims had peri-mortem bruises on their feet. Alyssa's feet looked rubbed raw from her high-heeled shoes.

"I do now," said Dr. Loman.

"What do you think caused that?" asked Calleigh.

Dr. Loman thought for a moment.

* * *

Horatio was on the phone with Dr. Loman. "What?" he asked the medical examiner, not sure if he heard him correctly the first time.

"It explains a lot," Dr. Loman said. "The dehydration, the exhaustion. Horatio, the victims literally danced until the died."

"Thank you, Tom," said Horatio.

"By the way, Horatio," said Dr. Loman, "how's are mystery girl?"

"She's still unconscious," said Horatio. He looked through the glass wall at the sleeping teenager. She had an IV in her arm. "I know she's in good hands with Alexx."

Horatio hung up the phone.

Alexx walked over to Horatio. "Horatio," she regarded him.

"Alexx, what can you tell me about our Jane Doe?" asked Horatio.

"Aside from dehydration, she's in perfect health," said Alexx.

"So someone is missing her," said Horatio.

Alexx nodded. She looked at the Jane Doe through the glass. "She looks like she just ran herself until she dropped."

"Or danced," said Horatio.

Alexx looked at him with a frown.

"Cause of death for our other victims is dehydration and exhaustion," said Horatio. "Dr. Loman theorizes that they danced until they dropped."

Alexx's frown deepened. "But why would anyone dance until they died?" she asked.

"I don't know," said Horatio. "That's what we're trying to find out. I hope this girl has some answers. All our other witnesses say the same thing — they can't remember."

"What?" asked Alexx. "Did you check them for drugs?"

"Yes, that was the first thing we checked for and none of them had anything of relevance in their systems," said Horatio.

Alexx turned back to the Jane Doe. "Let's hope you can put the pieces together, baby. We can't let anyone else die."

* * *

Ryan came walking through the lab carrying a soundboard.

"Moonlighting as a DJ, Wolfe?" asked Walter Simmons, poking a little fun at the other CSI.

"This is the equipment from the club," said Ryan. "The club owner wants nothing to do with it for some reason. Swears it's haunted."

"Haunted?" Walter said with a chuckle. "Well, I guess that's better than your mass hypnosis theory."

Ryan put down the equipment on a table and rolled his eyes. "Where did you hear that?"

"Where do you think?" asked Walter.

"Eric," muttered Ryan. "I knew he would tell."

Walter looked at the soundboard. "Let's see what we can find."

Walter and Ryan processed the equipment taken from the club.

* * *

In DNA, Natalia was swabbing the headsets to see if she could get any DNA off of them. Her results came back and she looked at them. She groaned, not happy with what she found.

Calleigh came into the DNA lab. "Anything on those headsets?" she asked.

"The DNA was compromised on both headsets," said Natalia. "The only thing I can be sure of is that the headsets were worn a woman."

"XX?" asked Calleigh.

Natalia nodded, handing her results over to Calleigh.

Calleigh sighed. "All right," she said. "Let's hope Walter and Ryan get something from the DJ equipment."

The two women went over to where Walter and Ryan were working.

"Did you find anything?" asked Calleigh.

"It's more like what we didn't find," said Walter. "There are no fingerprints on this equipment."

"Do you think someone wiped it down before they gave it to us?" asked Natalia.

"Maybe," said Walter.

"I did find something on the soundboard," said Ryan. He held up a cotton swab for everyone to see. There was something green and glowing on the tip.

"Phosphorus paint?" asked Calleigh.

"I'm not sure," said Ryan. "I'll run it through trace."

* * *

Back at the hospital, Eric found Horatio standing outside of Jane Doe's room.

"Hey, H," he said.

"Hey," said Horatio. "Did you find anything?"

"Not much," said Eric. "Calleigh called from the lab. There wasn't enough usable DNA for a match, but we know whoever wore those headsets was female. There weren't any fingerprints on the DJ equipment, but Wolfe managed to find some glowing substance. It's in trace now."

"Is there any security video?" asked Horatio.

Eric shook his head. "No, none during the time of the blackouts. Not only did the witnesses go blank, but the camera's did, too."

"I still want that footage," said Horatio.

Eric smirked. "It's already headed for the lab. And everyone else is going to interview the witnesses again."

* * *

At a dead end for the moment, Natalia and Calleigh were interviewing witnesses again.

"I told you, one minute we were partying and the next I'm waking up on the floor," a woman said to Calleigh.

"It was just so weird," said a guy who looked like he needed a shower and maybe a shave to Natalia. "It was like the ultimate high, but I don't remember it."

"One minute drink in hand, dancing around, and then I'm laying next to a dead guy," said a redhead with a tiger tattoo on her shoulder.

"Complete blackout."

"I didn't even notice I was asleep."

"I can't remember anything that happened after eleven. I was already very hammered."

Natalia and Calleigh met in the hallway outside the interview rooms.

"Anything?" asked Natalia.

"No, but if I hear one more person say they just blacked out, I am going to shoot something," said Calleigh.

Natalia laughed bitterly. "Remind me to stay out of your way."

Calleigh let out a heavy sigh. "Let's hope Horatio has some luck with our Jane Doe when she wakes up."

* * *

Ryan was just getting the trace results back on the green glowing substance he swabbed from the soundboard. "Unknown substance?" he read off the paper. "How is this an unknown substance?"

* * *

**Not my longest chapter. Sorry. When I try to write long chapters, they turn out short. I don't know why. From now on I'm just going to write and end the chapters where I please. Please review and let me know what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for being patient with me. We finally meet up with our favorite half-ghost superhero! Yay!**

* * *

An African American teenager stood across the street from the club where the three murders occurred late last night and early that morning. He wore a red beret, a yellow shirt, cargo pants, boots, and a backpack on his back. He took a PDA out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons.

"Not good," he said, pushing up his glasses. Discreetly, he reached up to his ear and pressed at the green earpiece. "Geek to Phantom. We have a problem."

"Did you find anything, Tuck?" came the reply.

"Just a lot of cops," answered Tucker. "I think we may be too late."

"Don't say that," Danny said sternly. "I'm sure she's fine."

Tucker didn't feel like arguing with Danny and he didn't want to think that something very bad happened to one of his best friends either. "I'm at a nightclub. This is the last place where Sam's Fenton Headphones transmitted from."

"I'm on my way," said Danny.

A few minutes later, Tucker felt a slight chill and a flash of light came from behind a nearby car. Danny Fenton casually strolled out from behind the car and walked up to Tucker.

"Sure are a lot of cops," Danny agreed. "Looks like the ghost got here, too."

"This is the last place the Fenton Headphones transmitted from," Tucker said again. "They must have been damaged."

"I can take a look inside," said Danny.

"Good luck," said Tucker.

Danny walked away and crouched down behind another car. He transformed, his messy black hair and ice blue eyes turning snow white and toxic green as his attire turned from a white and red T-shirt and jeans to a black hazmat suit with white gloves and boots and his DP logo. He turned invisible and flew across the street to the nightclub. He phased inside and began looking around.

"Anything?" Tucker asked.

"Not much," answered Danny. "The police must have taken all the evidence by now."

"Maybe not," said Tucker. "I remember Sam saying it sometimes takes hours, even days to get through collecting evidence."

Danny continued to look.

"What do you see?" Tucker asked.

"Glass, blood," answered Danny. "Broken furniture, footprints on the bar."

"Sounds like a party," said Tucker, trying to lighten the mood.

"A killing party," added Danny darkly.

Danny drifted over to where the DJ equipment once was. "They took the DJ equipment," he told Tucker. He looked around. He saw a few drops of green on the floor. "I found some ectoplasm. I'm sure this is our ghost."

Tucker heard Danny take a shaky breath on the other end of the radio. "You okay, man?" Tucker asked.

"This guy is like Ember, only instead of growing more powerful with people chanting his name, he's killing people," Danny said.

"I'll take that as a no," said Tucker.

"We need to find Sam," said Danny. "If she was okay, she would have called us by now or met up with us back at the beach house. I think she's in trouble. We need to start checking the hospitals."

"I hate hospitals," whined Tucker.

"Tough, Tuck," said Danny, flying out of the nightclub. "It's the only way we are going to find her. And what would you prefer to face, the hospitals or her parents?"

"Honestly I would rather you'd use me as bait for a ghost," said Tucker.

"Fine," said Danny. "You go back to the beach house and give Sam's parents a story about where she is."

Tucker brightened. "That's something I can do."

"I'll check the hospitals for Sam," said Danny.

"Closest one is Miami General," Tucker supplied.

"Thanks," said Danny, gaining altitude. "I'll call if I have anything."

* * *

Violet eyes fluttered open to see the bright white room she was in. Sam closed her eyes again and squeezed them tight. She was sore, but that was no surprise to her. She had no memory of it, but she knew she danced until she dropped. At least she was lucky and was alive.

Sam opened her eyes again and looked around. Her blurry sight made out someone standing at the window looking out.

"Danny?" she whispered. Her throat was dry.

The figure turned. It was not Danny. It was a man in his fifties with red hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a suit with no tie.

"Hey," said the man, taking a seat beside Sam's bed. "My name's Horatio. I'm a police officer. What's your name?"

"Sam," she replied with a small cough.

She lifted her hand to cover her mouth as she coughed more and felt something stab her in the elbow. Sam looked down and saw the IV. She gave it a look of disdain and switched hands.

Horatio handed her a paper cup with water.

Sam took a sip. "Thanks," she said.

"Sam, what's your last name?" asked Horatio.

Sam gave him a skeptical look. "Where's your badge?"

Horatio smiled. He took his badge from his belt and showed it to Sam. Sam took it and gave it a good looking over before handing it back to him.

"Sorry," she said. "I want to make sure you are who you say you are."

"You're a smart girl, Sam," said Horatio. "But we need to contact your parents and let them know you're okay. They must be worried."

"Probably," Sam said with a sigh. "It's Manson. Sam Manson."

"Okay," said Horatio. "Do you feel like answering a few questions?"

"I can try," said Sam.

"Let's start with why you were at the Lunar Moth nightclub," said Horatio.

Sam moaned internally. This guy was going right for the hard questions.

"I was looking for someone," she answered.

"Okay," said Horatio. "Who were you looking for?"

Sam paused. "A friend." It was a partial truth.

"Do you remember what happened at the club?" asked Horatio.

Sam wet her lips. "Everyone was dancing," she answered. "But something wasn't right. I was trying to get to the exit. After that, nothing."

Sam saw Horatio's disappointed look. "What's wrong, sir?"

"It's nothing," said Horatio. He stood up. "I'm going to contact your parents. Is there a phone number you can give me?"

"We don't live in Miami," said Sam. "We're just vacationing. I can give you my dad's cell phone number, but I would rather call him."

"Okay, you do that," said Horatio.

Horatio left the room. He glanced back to see if Sam was going to make the phone call. When he turned, he saw that she already had the hospital's bedside phone receiver in hand and was dialing.

Alexx was standing outside the girl's room. "Anything?"

"Yes, her name's Sam Manson," said Horatio. "And I think she's not sharing everything with us."

"Do you think she saw the killer?" asked Alexx.

"I'm not entirely sure," said Horatio. "But I would like to know who she is calling. It doesn't appear to be her father."

Alexx looked through the glass and saw Sam calmly speaking to someone on the other end.

* * *

Sam grabbed the bedside phone as soon as Horatio left the room. She had to call Tucker and tell him where she was.

"Hello?"

"Tucker."

"Sam!" Tucker yelled on the other end. "Are you okay? We've been worried about you? What happened last night?"

"I can't tell you everything now," said Sam. "I'm at a hospital." She found a logo on her chart sheet. "Miami General. There was a policeman talking to me a minute ago. He thinks I'm calling my dad. Please tell me you came up with a convincing lie to tell my parents."

"I came up with a convincing lie to tell your parents," Tucker said.

"Tucker, I'm serious," Sam said with a slight growl.

"So am I," said Tucker. "I told them you got sick from eating all that vegetarian junk you love and you were trying to sleep off a stomachache."

"And they bought it?" asked Sam.

"Hook, line, and sinker," said Tucker. "That, and I also set up the Foley Alibi Machine in your room to make it sound like you're sleeping."

"You're a genius, Tuck," said Sam.

"Thank you, I know," Tucker gloated.

"Where's Danny?" asked Sam.

"Looking for you," said Tucker. "Now that I know where you are, I can tell him. Why did you call me first, anyway?"

"Because I don't trust the cops," said Sam. "They can check my phone calls and I know you have your PDA set up to be untraceable."

"I'll tell Danny," said Tucker. "Get well soon."

"I will," said Sam. She hung up the phone. She leaned back and let out a heavy sigh. She was still very tired. She figured she had some time before Danny showed up. Sam closed her eyes and went to sleep.

* * *

Eric found Ryan and Walter in the trace lab taking turns looking through a microscope and appearing to become more agitated as the seconds passed.

"Did you find out what that substance is?" Eric asked, entering the trace lab.

Ryan looked up from the microscope. "Walter and I have run this through every database I can think of and nothing is coming up. Not even a chemical property."

"Maybe it is from a ghost," said Walter.

"There are no such things as ghosts," Ryan said.

"Do you have a better explanation?" asked Walter.

"Maybe it's something new that was created," said Eric.

"It would have been found in a database somewhere," Ryan pointed out.

Eric sighed. "Hopefully the girl will have some answers for us."


	5. Chapter 5

**I am so sorry this is taking so long. Between work and a few other things, fanfiction has taken a backseat and I hate that! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story so far. I will try to be more diligent with writing and posting chapters.**

* * *

Danny Phantom passed through a hospital wall unseen. Sleeping in one of the beds was Sam. Finally he had found her. Tucker had called over an hour ago and told Danny Sam was at Miami General. However, Tucker failed to give Danny her room number and Danny spent the better part of the hour trying to locate Sam.

"Sam," Danny whispered. "Sam." He tapped her shoulder.

Sam felt something cold touch her shoulder and she jumped up. She saw nothing, her violet eyes searching the room for a threat.

"Sam, it's me."

"Danny?" She sighed. "Don't scare me like that. I thought that ghost was coming back to finish the job."

Sam rubbed her eyes and sat up. She felt Danny sit on the edge of the bed. It was better if he stayed invisible with the walls of glass and the doctors passing by every few seconds.

"Did you get him yet?" asked Sam.

"No," Danny growled. He pushed his frustration aside. "Let's not worry about him right now. Let's worry about you."

"Danny, I'm fine," said Sam. "I was one of the lucky ones."

"What did you tell the police?" asked Danny.

"That I was looking for someone," said Sam. "I didn't say who and I told them I didn't remember anything, just like the others. I think that police officer thinks I'm lying. I'm not sure. He doesn't seem like a complete moron like the ones at home."

"That can be a problem," said Danny. He sighed. "Sam, I have to get you out of here. Do you think you'll be okay if we leave now?"

"I should be," said Sam. She looked at the IV still in her arm. "If I'm just dehydrated, it shouldn't be too hard for me to get back to ghost hunting strength." Though she couldn't see him, Sam knew Danny was smiling. "And the sooner I'm out of this paper dress, the better," she added with a shudder of disgust.

Danny chuckled. White did nothing for Sam. "I'll see if I can find you something to wear until we get back to the beach house."

"Thanks, Danny," Sam said with a smile.

Danny was about to tell her she was welcome when Sam looked at the glass wall and froze.

"What?" he asked, turning around.

A certain redhead lieutenant was watching them, well, mostly Sam since Danny was still invisible.

"That's him," Sam said without moving her lips. "That's the police officer I was telling you about."

"Stay cool, Sam," said Danny.

The lieutenant entered the room.

"Sam, who were you talking to?" asked Horatio.

"No one," said Sam. "I was talking to myself."

Horatio didn't look like he believed her, and he didn't. "That was a very in-depth conversation you were having with yourself."

Sam put on her tough girl persona. "How long were you standing there?" she asked.

"Long enough," said Horatio, moving closer to the bed.

Danny was forced to move. He floated up and over to the other side of the bed, touching Sam's hand to let her know he was still there.

"Is there something you want to tell me?" asked Horatio, sitting in the chair next to the bed. "Something you may have remembered?"

"I don't remember," said Sam.

"You're lying," Horatio said.

Sam unconsciously grabbed Danny's hand. Danny squeezed back hard.

"Sam, I know you are afraid," said Horatio. "But you have to be brave. Do you want this man to kill any more people?"

"Of course I don't want anyone else to die," Sam snapped.

"Then tell me what you remember," said Horatio. He waited for Sam to tell him. When she didn't say anything, he added, "You know not telling the police something you know is a crime, right?"

"I know," said Sam. "I've watched enough cop shows."

"I don't want to have to arrest you, but if I have to, I will," said Horatio.

Sam let out a yelp and pulled her hand away. "That hurt!"

"Sorry!"

Horatio started in his chair, not expecting for Sam to yell like that and certainly not expecting the male voice apologizing.

"Who's there?" asked Horatio.

"Oh, crud," whispered the male voice.

"Great," groaned Sam. "Now we have to tell him."

Horatio was looking at Sam for an explanation.

Sam sighed. "What do you know about ghosts?" she asked Horatio.

Horatio frowned at her.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," she said. "Danny."

The white haired, green-eyed teen appeared on the side of the bed opposite of Horatio. Horatio instinctively went for his gun. Danny gave a nervous smile. "Hi?"

"Who are you?" asked Horatio, keeping his hand on his gun, but not drawing it. He didn't want to have to shoot someone in a hospital, least of all a kid.

"I'm Danny Phantom," he said. He turned to Sam. "Sorry, Sam. I didn't mean to squeeze so hard. He just really ticked me off."

"It's okay," said Sam, rubbing her injured hand.

"You sure?" asked Danny. "Let me see."

Sam put her hand out to Danny. Danny checked it over and his white gloved hand stared to glow an icy blue. Sam shivered. "Don't freeze my hand."

"I'm not going to," said Danny.

After a few seconds, Sam said, "Thanks. That took the throb out of it."

"Anytime," said Danny.

Horatio stared at Danny. "What are you?" he asked Danny.

Danny turned to Horatio. "I'm a ghost," he simply stated. Horatio opened his mouth, but Danny cut him off. "Yeah, yeah, I know. There's no such thing as ghosts, but there are."

"I was going to say that my name is Horatio Caine," said Horatio.

"Oh," said Danny. "Now I feel like a dork."

"You are a dork," said Sam with a smirk.

"Hey!" Danny barked.

"Would you mind telling me what is going on here?" asked Horatio, becoming a bit annoyed.

Sam and Danny looked at each other.

"We'll tell you what we can," Danny said.

* * *

**Short chapter. Sorry! Things have been crazy and the demand for this has been through the roof. I am so stressed out with this and work, and I'm trying my hardest to keep these things interesting. I promise, next chapter will be much longer and will answer many questions that you readers have been asking yourselves (yes, I am psychic. I know your thoughts. Hahahaha!).**


	6. Chapter 6

**The first part of this chapter is a flashback of the two weeks prior to Danny, Sam, and Horatio meeting. It should answer some questions for you.**

* * *

TWO WEEKS AGO

"How did you manage to talk your parents into letting us come?" Tucker whispered to Sam.

The three of them were sitting in the Mansons' private jet that was currently flying in the direction of Miami.

"Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to," Sam grumbled. She eyed the tote bag at her feet that held the pink bikini with ruffles.

"Thanks for letting us come along, Mr. and Mrs. Manson," said Danny sincerely. "It's very nice of you to let Tucker and me come along on your vacation."

"You're welcome, Danny," said Pamela, giving him a socialite smile.

After the flight, they went to one of the Mansons' private beach houses. It was more of a mansion than a house.

"This is amazing," said Danny as he and Tucker walked into the room they were going to share.

"The beach is literally fifteen steps away," said Tucker, looking out the French door that led out to their deck. "And brimming with babes in bikinis!"

Danny walked over to his friend and looked, too. There was a bunch of young women in bikinis playing volleyball a few hundred feet from where they were.

"Come on, honeys," said Tucker. "Knock the ball down this way."

"Sam said this beach is private here," said Danny. "They would be trespassing."

Tucker grumbled.

There was a knock on the door and Sam came in. The boys turned around and stood there shocked. Sam was wearing a pink bikini with ruffles.

"Lose a bet?" asked Danny.

Sam scowled, more at what she was wearing than Danny. "This is what I have to do to get you guys down here."

"Harsh," said Danny. "You look good though."

Sam glared at Danny.

"I'm serious," Danny defended.

Sam's scowl lessened.

They played on the beach for hours. Once the sun had set, they were called inside for something to eat and to go to bed.

Danny looked up at the clock. It wasn't late.

"What's up?" asked Tucker, seeing Danny staring at the clock.

"I think I'm going to go on a quick patrol," said Danny.

"Danny, this is supposed to be our vacation," said Tucker.

Danny gave a light laugh. "You sound like Jazz."

"Seriously, dude," said Tucker. "The ghosts don't know you're here. Let's not go advertising that you're in Miami."

"I'll be quick and discreet," said Danny.

Tucker gave him a look that said, "I'll believe it when I see it."

Danny went ghost and flew out the window.

* * *

The Miami club scene was famous. Danny was flying over it and could hear all the music from the different clubs below. Maybe he could go down there, sneak in, and look around for a little while. No, he was on patrol. Danny was about to fly away when his ghost sense went off.

"Here?" he asked himself out loud.

Green eyes scanned for any sign of a ghost. Danny could hear a strange sound from one of the clubs, a sound mixed in with the music. It sounded familiar, but he couldn't think of where he heard it before. Then he remembered and his stomach lurched.

"Ember," he whispered.

Without a second thought, Danny dove down to the club where he heard the strange sound. He phased through the roof and hovered invisibly above the dance floor.

People were dancing to the sound of the club music that was blaring from all the speakers. Everyone was dancing in fact — the bartender, the waitresses. Something wasn't right.

Danny turned to the DJ. The DJ was a man in his early twenties with brown hair and was dressed in a florescent green shirt with a black vest over top and baggy black pants. He looked up at Danny and Danny immediately noticed the ghostly green eyes. The DJ took one look at Danny and disappeared, the music abruptly stopping.

"Hey!" shouted Danny, flying after the ghost.

Danny left the club and looked around the night sky. He didn't see the ghost or sense him.

"Maybe he took off because he knew who I was," Danny muttered.

Danny decided this was enough for one night and flew back to the beach house.

* * *

"Danny."

Danny groaned and rolled over in bed.

"Danny, wake up."

"Five more minutes," grumbled Danny.

"Danny!"

Danny sat up in bed. "What?" he barked.

"You have to see this," Tucker said. "It's all over the news."

Danny followed Tucker downstairs to the living room where the TV was on. Sam's parents were watching the morning news.

"Two Dead After Wild Club Party," was what the ticker tape read.

"That's the club where I saw the ghost," Danny said to Tucker.

"You saw a ghost last night?" asked Tucker. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Shh!" hissed Danny.

"Authorities are not releasing the identities of the two victims who died at the Spellbound nightclub," the reporter was saying.

"Two are dead?" whispered Danny. "I thought the ghost was just having some fun. I didn't know he was hurting anyone."

Tucker looked at Danny. Danny was clearly distraught.

"Nightclubs should be illegal," Pamela burst out. "They are unwholesome. Think about how they corrupt our children. If I ever catch Sammy at one, I will ground her for life!"

"Come on, man," said Tucker, putting a comforting arm around Danny's shoulders. "Let's go tell Sam."

Sam was not a morning person, and Tucker and Danny knew that. So when they came into her room before noon, she was less than pleased. But that anger disappeared when she saw the look on Danny's face.

"What happened?" she asked them.

Danny explained to Tucker and Sam everything that happened when he went on patrol last night.

"Danny, it's okay," said Sam.

"How is it okay?" asked Danny. "Two people are dead because of me."

"There's a good chance more would be dead if it weren't for you," Sam pointed out.

"Don't," growled Danny, his eyes giving off a soft green glow. It was not enough to turn his blue eyes completely green, but it was enough to show his ghostly energy was surging with his emotions. "Two lives have been lost. Don't try to make it sound like it's okay. Don't tell me they died because it was the lesser of two evils."

Danny took a shaky breath and sat down on the edge of the bed. He put his head in his hands. "I won't turn into him."

Sam put her hand on his shoulder. "Of course you won't," she said.

Seeing that this conversation was not going in the right direction, Tucker piped up, "You said you thought of Ember when you heard the music?"

Danny put his head up. "Yeah," he replied. "There was a sound mixed in with the music. I remember hearing it when Ember first came to Amity Park. Then I heard it again when she hypnotized all the parents and Jazz."

"So this ghost is like Ember," said Sam. She got up and opened a suitcase. "Good thing I thought ahead."

Sam walked back over with a pair of Fenton Headphones and a thermos in her hands.

Danny smiled. "Smart thinking," he said.

He and Tucker left her room and came back with a bag of ghost hunting gear. Danny had a thermos, an ecto-gun, and a pair of Fenton Headphones. Tucker had a Fenton lipstick, a wrist ray, the boo-merang, two ghost radars, and a pair of Fenton Headphones, too.

Danny chuckled. "So much for our vacation," he said.

Every chance they got, they searched for the mysterious ghost. Nothing. They went days without finding anything. It was only when he struck another club that they caught his trail. That was a week after Danny saw him. Twice from then, Danny managed to catch up with him and stop him from hypnotizing people, but the ghost was a slippery one and always got away before Danny could bring out the Fenton Thermos.

* * *

Tonight they decided to take another approach. They would wander around the clubs to see if they could find the ghost that way and call Danny to catch him. This would give them the element of surprise, which they so desperately needed.

Sam was passing a club called Lunar Moth when Sam's ghost radar went off.

"Guys, I think I found him," Sam radioed using the Fenton Headphones. "He's in a club called Lunar Moth."

There was nothing but static on the other end.

"Guys?" she tried again.

Still static.

"Guess I'm on my own," said Sam.

The backdoor was unlocked and Sam saw that the party was already in full swing. The DJ ghost was already there, playing his hypnotic music. Sam reached into her pocket for the Fenton lipstick Tucker gave her. To get to the DJ, she would have to push her way through the dancing crowd. She had to work fast.

Sam pushed her way through the crowd and aimed her Fenton lipstick at the DJ. Someone bumped into her and she misfired, the shot hitting the ceiling. The DJ looked in the crowd to see where that had come from. He didn't see it was Sam. Instead, he changed the music and the crowd began dancing wildy.

Realizing that she had just blown her only shot at catching the ghost off-guard, Sam hurried for the nearest exit. Someone bumped into her and one of her Fenton Headphones fell out of her ear. Sam covered that ear and began looking for the headphone, but found someone had smashed it. She pushed on, but someone else hit her and the other headphone fell out. Sam took a second to looked for it, but gave up, covering her ears and making a break for the main exit.

Seeing that she was not going to make it through everyone, Sam looked for a fire exit. She made a run for it, but crashed into someone. Instinctively, she put her hands out in front of her to stop her fall. She hurried to get up, but as she did, the DJ's music took hold of her and she began dancing with the crowd.

"Danny, help," were the words she could muster up with the last of her willpower.

* * *

PRESENT TIME, AT THE HOSPITAL

Danny stared at Sam. "I didn't get your message," he told her. "Tucker was able to track the headphones to the club, but we didn't know where you were."

"It's okay," said Sam.

"No, it's not," said Danny. "The Fenton Headphones were working when we tested the equipment earlier."

"Maybe she was out of range," Horatio supplied.

"No," said Danny. "Those things should be able to transmit anywhere. I've been in the Ghost Zone and she's been able to hear me."

"Do you think it's one of his powers?" asked Sam.

"There's a good chance of that," said Danny.

"So, why did your parents allow you to bring a ghost with you?" Horatio asked Sam.

While telling their story, Danny and Sam had been very careful to not say that Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom.

"There are two Dannys," said Sam. "One is my friend and he's human."

"And the other is me," said Danny, waving a white gloved hand and smiling. "It gets confusing, but usually someone yells, 'Phantom!' when they're trying to get my attention."

Horatio could see how Sam could have tricked her parents. "All right," he said. "I need you to come down to the police station and give a full statement."

"Police station? Me?" said Danny. He laughed. "Uh-uh, not happening."

Horatio turned to Sam. "And I will contact your parents."

"No," said Sam.

Danny chuckled. "Like they'll believe you," he said.

"When they come pick their daughter up from the hospital, they will," said Horatio.

Danny smirked.

Sam knew what this smirk meant. Danny was planning something and she had a feeling that it was not something good for Lieutenant Horatio Caine.

Danny grabbed Sam's hand and they vanished.

Horatio jumped from where he was and started at where Sam Manson had been in bed seconds ago. Now it was just a bundle of blankets, a loose IV, and a memory.

Alexx saw that it was only Horatio in the room and quickly came in. "Horatio, where's Sam?"

* * *

**Sorry this took so long. And it almost didn't get posted today because I didn't have any power until after lunch.**

**My goal is to have this story finished by Halloween for a Halloween fic, but don't hold your breath. Between the multiple projects, work, especially with Black Friday coming, and keeping my brain together enough to know which stories are what, it may not be finished by Halloween. Also, if anyone would like to create the cover art for this story, please feel free to PM me and I will do my best to get back to you as quickly as I can.  
**

**For those of you who don't know, (mostly everyone, except for the close-knit fans I try to stay in contact with outside of Fanfiction) I work maintenance at a shopping mall. I am the one who keeps all those bathrooms free of paper towel and toilet paper on the floor and makes sure all the toilets are flushing. So for those of you who are insane enough to go shopping at midnight on Black Friday (seriously, I don't understand the hype) do us janitors/maintenance workers a huge favor, if there's a mess in a bathroom, no matter what shopping center you're in, tell someone, because few things are more irritating at my job than walking into a bathroom and finding a mell of a hess in one of the stalls that has been sitting for God knows how long. That happened to me two Sundays ago and it was not fun in the least. Help us maintenance workers keep the bathrooms clean and sanitary for everyone when the holidays begin. Honestly this goes for year-round, but the holidays are the worst. Thank you.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Well, I'm doing my best. We had a hurricane here and the internet was down at my local library. I can't control the weather, so I'm sorry that I missed the deadline. Everyone has been so patient with me, thank you very much.**

* * *

"We're in so much trouble," said Sam. "We are in big, big trouble."

Danny and Sam were flying invisibly back to the beach house as fast as Danny could fly.

"And you're the one who always wants to break the rules," said Danny.

"I didn't mean go that far," said Sam. "Uh! We just ran away from a police detective. He knows my name, Danny! He knows I'm on vacation with my parents!"

"Calm down, we'll think of something," said Danny.

"We're in so much trouble," Sam muttered again.

Danny and Sam phased into Sam's room at the beach house and Phantom turned back into Fenton. The MP3 player was sitting on the bedside table making horrible groaning noises and the occasional loud fart.

"I'm going to kill Tucker," Sam said. She grabbed the Foley Alibi Machine and shut it off.

"Danny? Sam? Is that you?" Tucker called on the other side of the door.

Sam ran over and opened the door. She grabbed Tucker by the front of the shirt and pulled him inside, slamming the door behind him. "What the heck is this?" she barked, holding the Foley Alibi Machine in Tucker's face.

"The Foley Alibi Machine," Tucker said, hoping not to be punched in the face.

"No duh, genius," growled Sam. "Why does it say it's set to _Sam's Disgusting Green Food Consequences_?"

"Because I read somewhere that too many greens give you gas?" Tucker answered weakly.

Sam took off his beret and shoved it in his mouth. She picked up a few clothes off the floor and walked into the bathroom.

"Look, I did a few things that I shouldn't have," Danny admitted.

"You're darn right you did," Sam called from the other side of the closed door.

Danny sighed. "The cops are going to be here soon. We have to get our stories straight. We were home all night, Sam got sick, and has been in her room ever since. You and I have been playing video games since we woke up this morning. We're going to have to make it look like we've been."

"Way ahead of you," said Tucker. He took out his PDA and typed a few things into it. "There. If anyone looks at our login, it'll say we've been on the internet since we got up this morning."

"Great." Sam walked out of the bathroom and threw the hospital gown on the bed. She was dressed in her usual black tank, black and green skirt, purple tights, and combat boots. "Now we just got to get rid of this."

Danny took the hospital gown. "I'll take care of this."

"How much time do you think we have until the police arrive?" asked Tucker.

The doorbell rang. All three of them swung around to the door.

"Survey says, none," said Sam.

"Sammy-kins!" Pamela called. "Come down here, please. You, too, boys!"

Sam turned around and pointed to the hospital gown. Danny understood. He went ghost and grabbed the gown and flew out of the beach house. He returned a moment later to walk downstairs with Sam and Tucker.

Horatio Caine was standing in the entryway, along with Eric Delko and Frank Tripp.

"Stay cool, guys," Danny whispered to Sam and Tucker.

"Stay cool? With him?" asked Tucker, looking at Horatio.

"Hello, Miss Manson," said Horatio.

"Uh, hi?" said Sam, playing dumb.

"What's this about?" asked Jeremy.

"Mr. Manson, last night we found Sam unconscious at a nightclub called Lunar Moth," said Eric.

"What?" cried Pamela. "That's impossible. Samantha is underage. She knows better than that." She whirled around to her daughter. "What were you doing there?"

"Mom, I wasn't there," Sam lied. "I've been here the whole time. Ask Danny and Tucker."

"She was here, Mrs. Manson," Tucker said. "She got sick last night. That's why she was in bed all morning. She wasn't feeling well."

"That's true," said Pamela. "I heard she had a horrible stomachache. Is it any better, dear? Maybe I should take you to the doctor."

"I'm fine now, Mom," said Sam.

"And where were you two?" Eric asked Danny and Tucker.

"We've been . . ." started Danny.

"Playing video games," finished Tucker.

"Yeah, playing video games," Danny agreed. "Since early this morning."

"I see," said Frank. "Would you mind letting us look around?"

"For what?" asked Pamela.

"Evidence," replied Eric.

"You think the kids had something to do with this?" asked Jeremy.

"With all due respect, Mr. Manson," said Horatio, "Sam has been lying."

"I'm not lying," said Sam. "Go ahead, go through my stuff. You're not going to find anything." She looked over at Danny, silently asking him if the hospital gown was well hidden. There was no nervous look on his face so she assumed that it was hidden.

The detectives began to search the trio's rooms.

"Please tell me you hid it," muttered Tucker.

"It's fine," said Danny. "As long as they don't look on the roof."

A half hour later, the detectives were apologizing to the Mansons and they left.

"That was close," said Sam.

"Yeah," said Danny, sitting down on a chair.

"So what now?" asked Tucker.

"We have to find that ghost," said Danny.

"How? With the police watching us, it's going to be tough to get out of the house," said Sam. "Especially with my parents thinking I'm involved in this now."

"Don't worry, I'll think of something," said Danny.

* * *

Horatio, Eric, and Frank stood by their cars that were parked in front of the beach house.

"H, are you sure about this?" asked Eric. "We know that that's Sam Manson. We helped her out of that nightclub."

"And yet she is here less than an hour after leaving the hospital," said Horatio.

"What are you thinking, Horatio?" asked Frank.

"I think we need to keep an eye on them," said Horatio.

"We could at least drag all three of them in for questioning," said Frank.

"No, we can't," said Horatio. "They'll stick with their story and it's clear that Sam's parents are clueless."

"So back to the evidence?" asked Eric.

Horatio adjusted his sunglasses. "Back to the evidence."

* * *

The team gathered in the evidence lab.

Horatio spoke up, "Let's start from the beginning. What do we know?"

"We have three nightclubs full of witnesses who are no help, six dead bodies, and one girl who escaped from the hospital," said Natalia.

"Which is Sam Manson," Eric put in.

"Let's ignore Sam for the time," said Horatio. "What else do we know?"

"That the victims literally danced until they died," said Ryan. "Like out of _Hocus Pocus_."

Walter looked at Ryan. "Did you really make a movie reference to that?"

"What else would you compare it to?" asked Ryan.

Walter was about to open his mouth when Natalia cut in. "DNA on the headsets came back female, but there wasn't enough for a profile."

"So we don't know who was wearing them," said Calleigh.

"Not yet," said Horatio. "Did we identify the substance on the mixing board?"

"No," said Ryan. "It came back unknown. Walter and I checked every database out there. We have no idea what it is."

"Any theories of how they danced until they died?" asked Horatio.

"Mass hypnosis," Ryan said. "Sounds crazy, but I'm sticking to it. You should hear Walter's explanation."

Walter glared down at Ryan.

"Walter?" asked Calleigh.

"It's stupid," said Walter.

"He thinks it's a ghost," Ryan said for him.

"Shut up," snapped Walter.

Horatio gave Walter and Ryan a stern look. "At this point, all theories are valid."

Everyone looked at Horatio like he was crazy.

"What about Sam Manson?" asked Eric.

Calleigh looked at him. "You certainly are stuck on this girl."

"I know she's lying," said Eric.

"Eric," said Horatio.

"H, she is. You know that," said Eric. "You talked to this girl in the hospital. She knows something!"

"Eric," Horatio said again. "I know."

"You think she's hiding something?" asked Natalia. "Something about how these people are being forced to dance?"

"I think she knows all about it," said Horatio.

"Then why didn't you bring her in?" asked Walter.

"Because I think she can lead us to who is doing this," said Horatio. "Sam is a very smart girl. She knows all about this, but she won't say anything to us because we'll think she's crazy."

"Not to mention her parents would probably have a heart attack if they found out," said Eric, beginning to understand why Sam was lying.

"What do her parents have to do with this?" asked Natalia.

"Her parents are socialites in Amity Park," said Eric. "They have money, a lot of it. Sam's probably keeping her mouth shut for their sakes."

"We know the DNA on the headsets was female," said Natalia. "Maybe because Sam was wearing them. We can't confirm it was Sam because the sample was corrupted."

"But we can't confirm that it wasn't Sam," said Ryan.

"After hearing that, I really think we should look into the Mansons," said Walter.

"It can't hurt," said Calleigh.

Horatio nodded. "The Mansons have been in Miami for two weeks on vacation."

"Two weeks, that's when the murders started," said Natalia.

"We'll start with any strange events in Amity Park that are connected to them," said Ryan.

The team left the room and left Horatio alone.

Horatio hadn't said anything about Danny Phantom because he wasn't sure of the encounter himself. He told Alexx that he had talked to her and she asked for him to find a nurse to check something. When he came back, she was gone. He knew no one would believe that Sam had just vanished into thin air with a white-haired, green-eyed boy in a black and white jumpsuit. He wasn't sure he believed it himself.

So what did Horatio know: This Danny Phantom character came with Sam and her friends to Miami. He was trying to track down a ghost who played music at clubs that hypnotized people into dancing non-stop. Sam was trying to help Phantom, but got caught up in it when her equipment failed (Fenton Headphones) and almost wound up on one of Dr. Loman's autopsy tables herself. There was another person helping them. And Sam had said that there were two Dannys, one Phantom, one Fenton. After seeing both Dannys, Horatio wondered how true that claim was.

* * *

**Uh-oh. Like Sam thought, Horatio isn't as dense as the people in Amity Park. Next chapter, Team Phantom go after the DJ ghost while dodging the police.**

**Sorry everything took so long. The reasons are work, trying to get enough sleep, writers' block, and a lovely little storm that knocked out the internet named Sandy. So much for getting this done for Halloween. I'm just going to say don't expect any updates anytime soon. Holiday season is upon us and I'm going to be working my butt off. Leave a review for me to get me through this.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Yeah, I know, my updating sucks. I swear, I'm trying. I've been working on a few other things as well. Get ready for a **_**My Ghost Christmas Part 3**_**, and a few **_**Young Justice **_**stories. Also, if you like my **_**Code: LYOKO Light and Shadow**_** series, keep your eyes open. I plan on major editing for **_**Light Rising**_**, along with minor editing to the other stories, just to clean up the spelling and grammar, but nothing to change the story lines. If you read them before, you won't have to read them again to understand what is going on. There is also a surprise in store for all those who have followed, favored, and reviewed the series that will most likely come in early February, maybe a little sooner, maybe a little later. It will come in the form of a private message. Until then, enjoy this chapter of **_**Dance Until You Die**_**.**

* * *

"You're all grounded!"

The words that came from Pamela and Jeremy's mouths wouldn't have impacted normal teenagers stuck at a beach house in Florida, but it did to Team Phantom.

After all of the police left, the teens were told they weren't allowed to leave the beach house without adult supervision.

The three of them sat in Sam's bedroom.

"So what are we going to do?" asked Sam. "We're stuck here."

"Not all of us," said Danny. "I'll go after the ghost."

"By yourself?" asked Sam. "Are you crazy?"

"I have immunity to his power," said Danny. "He can't make me dance."

"Dude, remember what happened with Ember," said Tucker. "You were great up until she got more power."

"I'll just have to be careful," said Danny.

"How are you going to find him?" asked Tucker. "He just shows up."

"I don't know," said Danny. "I can fly around until he shows up."

"That's stupid," said Sam. "Miami is huge. It would be one thing if it was Amity Park, but this place is like ten Amity Parks."

"Do you have any other suggestions?" asked Danny.

"Let the police do their job?" Tucker asked with a shrug.

"You know that's not going to work," said Danny. "They don't know what they're getting into."

"This ghost might not be that strong," Sam pointed out. "He has the power to hypnotize, but you never fought him, just chased him off."

"I have to try," said Danny.

"We're not stopping you," said Tucker.

"We just want you to think this through," said Sam. "I don't want to take another trip to the hospital. Or worse, the morgue."

"What do you want me to do, Sam?" Danny snapped. "I don't know what else to do. Flying around and waiting for him to show up is the best I got. I'm not the police."

Tucker smirked. "But we can have them help us."

"How?" asked Danny.

Tucker continued to smirk as he held up his PDA.

Danny and Sam smiled, understanding what Tucker was up to.

"That works," said Danny.

* * *

Horatio was searching the data bases for anything that could help identify the mysterious substance recovered from the Lunar Moth. He knew there was a connecting between it, Sam Manson, the killer, and Danny Phantom.

Horatio searched for Danny Phantom on the internet. He mostly found things about the ghostly teen saving the city from ghosts, but there were a few that involved robbery and kidnapping. Horatio narrowed his eyes and continued to read. One name popped up: Fenton. Wasn't that Sam's friend's name? He typed in Fenton and up popped the Fenton Works website. It was mostly a blog of sorts. Fenton Works was created by Jack and Maddie Fenton. They specialized in ectoplasmic entities and were trying to catch Danny Phantom. They said he was a menace to society and had to be captured to prevent harm coming to the city.

Horatio picked up his phone and dialed the phone number for Fenton Works that was displayed next to the picture of Jack Fenton's grinning face.

"Hello?" a female voice answered after five rings.

"Mrs. Fenton, my name is Lieutenant Caine of the Miami-Dade Police Department," said Horatio.

"Miami? Oh, no! What happened to Danny?" she asked.

"Nothing, Mrs. Fenton," said Horatio. "He may have witnessed a crime. I'm not calling about Danny, exactly. I was looking at the Fenton Works website and saw that you and your husband specialize in ghosts. I have a very strange case and I thought you may be able to help me."

"Fenton Works website?" Horatio heard her whisper.

"FentonWorks/JackFenton-GhostHunter," Horatio said.

There was a groan on the other end of the line. "That's right. I forgot about the website. It hasn't been up very long and I'm not the one who keeps it up to date. So what can I help you with, Lieutenant?"

"CSIs discovered a glowing green substance at the crime scenes," explained Horatio. "It was not found in any of our date bases. Also, people have reported mass blackouts immediately before the crime. There is very little evidence; no fingerprints, no DNA, just the green substance."

There was a long pause.

"Mrs. Fenton?" Horatio checked.

"Yes, I'm still here," she said. "It's ectoplasm. You have a ghost, Lieutenant Caine."

"You're telling me a ghost is doing this?" asked Horatio.

"You asked," she said.

"Is there anything we can do to catch it?" asked Horatio, though he thought this was a hoax, but after what he saw earlier, he would believe just about anything at this point.

"You need special equipment to catch it," she said. "My bro—my son is in Miami. He should have one or two things that can help. I'll give him a call."

"Thank you, Mrs. Fenton," said Horatio.

"It's not a problem," she said.

"I do have one more question for you," he said. "What is your opinion of Danny Phantom?"

There was a slight pause. "You mean Inviso-bill? He's a menace to society. He says he's a hero, but how can he be a hero when he's a ghost? He is just formed ectoplasm with a psychic imprint of a dead person. He doesn't belong here. Anything else?"

"No, that's all, Mrs. Fenton," Horatio told her. "Have a nice day."

"You, too, Lieutenant. I hope you catch your ghost."

Horatio hung up and decided it was time to take another look at Danny Fenton.

Eric poked his head in the door. "H, we got something."

Horatio quickly followed Eric to the AV lab.

* * *

Everyone was in the AV lab. Eric was at the computer, working the controls.

"I was taking another look at all the footage, thinking we needed to look at things a little differently," he said. He pulled up three different screens, one from each club. "Tell me what you see."

He played all three videos at once.

"People dancing," said Ryan.

Horatio heard it immediately. "It's the same song."

"Yeah," said Eric.

The screens suddenly went black as the feed was cut.

"All three clubs played the same song right before the cameras were disabled," said Eric.

"So the song has some significance," said Calleigh.

"Who made it?" asked Natalia.

"It's 'Twilite's Zone' from DJ Twilite," answered Walter.

They turned to him.

"What?" he asked.

Ryan said, "And you call me out on a movie reference?"

"I'll interview this DJ Twilite," said Natalia.

"That would be a little hard," said Eric. "He's dead."

A newspaper article was put up on screen. "Rising Star DJ Dies in Boating Accident" was what the headline read.

"Trevor 'Twilite' Diamond," Ryan said. "I remember hearing something about this."

"Yeah, he just got a contract with some big music mogul," said Walter.

"So were at another dead-end," said Calleigh.

"If the music is this guy's trigger, we have to tell the clubs to stop playing the song," said Ryan.

"How?" asked Natalia. "We can't just tell all the clubs in Miami to stop playing a song because it's linked to a series of murders."

"Yes, we can," said Horatio. "It's bad for business if your clients end up dead."

"Then let's do it," said Ryan.

* * *

"Tucker, you are amazing," said Danny.

"I know," said Tucker.

Tucker had managed to hack the MDPD and found everything on the case.

Danny's phone rang and answered. "Hello?"

"Danny, what are you doing down there?" cried Jazz.

"Jazz?" he said.

"It's Jazz?" asked Sam. "What does she want?"

"Hold on, Jazz, I'm putting you on speaker," said Danny. He pressed a button on his phone and held it out for Tucker and Sam to hear.

"I had some lieutenant call me from Miami saying that he found ectoplasm at a crime scene," said Jazz.

"He called you?" asked Danny.

"Actually he thought it was I was Mom," said Jazz. "Did you know we have a website now? Never mind. What is going on there?"

Danny sighed. "There's a ghost who's going around hypnotizing people to dance and now six people are dead."

"What?" cried Jazz. "Danny, are you crazy going after him?"

"I've got to do something, Jazz," Danny shot back. "This ghost almost killed Sam, too."

"Sam?" Jazz took several loud deep breaths, trying to calm down. "Okay, okay. Is everyone okay?"

"We're fine now," said Sam. "I'm just a little sore and need to make sure I drink enough water."

"That's good," Jazz said, relief in her voice. "So, do you guys have a plan?"

"Uhh," they said.

"In other words, not much of one," said Jazz. "You need to figure out what this ghost's obsession is. You might be able to use it against him."

"Well, from what I can tell he has some connection to a song," said Tucker, going through the police files. "It looks like every time they play a song by DJ Twilite, the cameras blacked out and the people start dancing."

Tucker pulled up the mp3 file on his PDA and played it.

"That song played right before he showed up," said Sam.

"Okay, so you know that the song has some significance to the ghost, now find what it is," said Jazz. "Check the DJ first."

Tucker looked up DJ Twilite. "He died in a boating accident about a month ago."

"That's not long ago. The ghost showed up two weeks ago, when we got here," said Danny.

"There's something to go with," said Jazz.

"Thanks, Jazz," said Danny. "I'll talk to you later."

"Stay safe," said Jazz.

"No promises," said Danny. He hung up.

"Hey, guys," said Tucker. "The police told all the clubs to stop playing DJ Twilite music."

"Really?" asked Sam. "How can they do that? They're trying to silence good music!"

"This isn't good," said Danny. "If they're not playing the song, how am I going to find him?"

"Well, one club apparently isn't complying," said Tucker, still looking at his PDA.

"Which club?" asked Danny.

* * *

"Sir, please understand," Natalia was trying to say.

"I don't care!" the man on the other end of the phone roared. "You do not tell me what songs I can or cannot play at my club."

He abruptly hung up on Natalia.

"Have a nice day, too," she said bitterly, putting her phone away.

"Well?" asked Eric, coming up to her.

"All the clubs but one are pulling the songs," said Natalia. "Mr. Berger refuses to pull DJ Twilite songs from his club's play list. He says it's the most popular song he has and he's not afraid of some whack job."

"Which club is that?" asked Eric.

"Sunset-2-Sunrise," replied Natalia.

"Then we know where he's going to strike next," said Eric.

* * *

**Short chapter, sorry. Please review.**


	9. Chapter 9

**For anna — you gave me an idea that I'm sure you weren't intending me to have. This one's for you.**

* * *

Richard Berger was a middle-aged man with a horrible toupee of brown hair. He stood in front of Horatio Caine and was not backing down while Horatio explained the situation. The answer for pulling the music: no, absolutely not. The answer for having police inside for any suspicious activity: again, not happening.

"So what do we do now?" asked Ryan.

"We sit out here and wait," said Horatio.

The team waited outside the Sunset-2-Sunrise club for something to happen. It wasn't until midnight that Horatio noticed something on a neighboring rooftop. Horatio left his post and went to the rooftop. When he got there, he didn't see anyone.

"I didn't think you would be here," said a familiar voice.

Horatio turned around to see white-haired Danny Phantom.

"What are you doing here?" asked Horatio.

"Trying to catch a ghost," answered Danny. "You?"

"Trying to catch a killer," Horatio said.

Danny gave a short humorless laugh. "Good luck with that. Your killer is my ghost."

"A kid shouldn't be going after dangerous criminals," said Horatio.

"And a police officer shouldn't be going after a ghost without the proper equipment," Danny shot back.

"All right," said Horatio. "Do you have any way of catching this 'ghost'?"

Danny smirked and took out the Fenton Thermos.

Horatio's eyes widened a little. A thermos? This kid was going to try to catch a criminal with a thermos?

"Don't worry," said Danny. "I know what I'm doing."

A wisp of blue came from Danny's mouth. "He's here."

"How do you know?" asked Horatio.

"My ghost sense," replied Danny. "That and the fact that a DJ Twilite song is playing right now."

Horatio got on the radio. "He's here. Everyone, go."

"No!" cried Danny. "You'll just be hypnotized with the rest of them."

"I can't stand back and do nothing," said Horatio, heading for the roof entrance.

Danny tossed Horatio a pair of Fenton Phones. "They'll filter out the ghost noise. As long as you have them in, you shouldn't be affected."

"Aren't these the same items Miss Manson was wearing last night?" asked Horatio.

"Yeah, but the communicator failed for some reason," said Danny. "Now come on, before someone else winds up dead."

Danny flew off the roof, forcing Horatio to leave the same way he came: down the stairs.

Danny phased through the roof of the building and saw the DJ ghost at the mixing board. The brunette ghost was focused on playing his hypnotic music. No one in the crowd looked up at Danny. They were too busy dancing.

Danny shot the DJ with an ecto-blast. "Hey, you!"

The DJ ghost looked up at him, glowing green locking with glowing green. He stood up and fixed his black vest.

"I'm working," he snapped.

"So am I," said Danny. "Now are you going to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

"I've done nothing wrong," said the DJ.

"You've killed six people," said Danny.

"I did not!" roared the DJ. He threw his hand out and a pulsing beat shot from his hand.

Danny barely had time to swoop out of the way.

"Why would I hurt anyone?" the DJ yelled. "Look, I'm not hurting anyone here."

"You hypnotized them!" Danny said. "They'll dance until they die!"

The DJ was taken aback. "You lie."

"No, Mr. Diamond, he doesn't," said Horatio, holding his gun up. He was standing on the platform where the DJ booth was, away from the swarm of dancing people. "There are six people in the morgue because of you."

"No," whispered the DJ. "No, that's not possible."

"Dude, you seriously don't know what you did?" asked Danny.

"I don't kill," said the DJ. "I don't."

"But you did," said Horatio.

The DJ's face twisted in rage, green eyes flashing dangerously. "You want me to be a killer? I'll start with you first!"

The DJ put his hand up. Horatio fired, but the bullet simply passed through the DJ. A blast shot from the DJ's hand just as Danny fired an attack of his own. Horatio was hit and knocked into the crowd. The DJ was also hit and knocked in the wall behind him.

Horatio curled up in a ball to protect himself from being trampled. A sudden cold shot through him and he felt himself being picked up off the floor.

Danny moved Horatio back to the DJ platform. The DJ was gone and the song had changed, but the people were still dancing madly.

"We have to stop them," said Horatio.

"He's just like Ember," whispered Danny. A sudden idea came to him. "Just like Ember!"

Danny quickly took a few steps back, looking around the room. "Man, I hope I don't crush us."

Horatio whirled around, but didn't get the chance to ask Danny what he met.

Danny took a deep breath and yelled. A tortured moan came from his mouth and green sound waves could be seen. The building shook and a few lights broke. Danny quickly stopped as soon as he saw people covering their ears.

"That should do it," said Danny. He looked at the broken glass. "Even at low power, that's still a strong attack."

The DJ suddenly appeared and tackled Danny. Danny let out a cry and struggled to get free.

People started screaming and rushed to get out of the club.

"Get them out!" Danny yelled, punching the DJ in the face. "Get them all out!"

Horatio worked to get the people out and finding his team.

"H, what's going on?" called Eric.

"We need to get these people away from the club," said Horatio. "Move them back as far as you can."

"Horatio!" called Calleigh, running towards him.

There was a crash and Danny was sent through the roof of the club. He stopped himself in the air and shook his head to rid himself of the dizziness. He looked down and saw the DJ coming at him. Danny dodged out of the way, firing an ecto-blast. It hit the DJ square in the chest.

"What the hell are they?" said Eric, watching the fight between Danny and the DJ.

"They're ghosts," answered Horatio.

"What?" Eric and Calleigh asked. They thought he was crazy.

"One of them is the ghost of Trevor 'DJ Twilite' Diamond," said Horatio.

The DJ took a hard hit and slammed into the car. Danny came to hover above him.

"And the other is Danny Phantom," Horatio added.

"Don't you have a hack tour to play?" taunted Danny, hoping to make the ghost angry enough to slip up.

The DJ growled and fired more sound waves at Danny. Danny flew out of the way and was punched in the face.

"How do we stop them?" asked Calleigh.

"Can we stop them?" asked Eric.

"Let them wear each other down," said Horatio. "It seems Mr. Phantom is trying to help us."

Danny rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand. A green smudge appeared on his white glove.

The DJ hovered before him.

"What is going on out here?" roared Richard Berger.

Danny was hit hard from a blast from the DJ and hit the ground, several yards behind Berger. He shook his head and looked up, green eyes widening at the DJ.

"Oh, crud," Danny muttered.

Berger looked at Danny and then what he was looking at. The man's face paled.

The DJ unleashed a sound wave attack that hit both Berger and Danny. Danny was able to throw up a shield in time. Amongst the debris, Danny saw something small and furry fly passed him.

When the dust settled, Danny dropped his shield. He saw the man who got caught up in the blast a few feet in front of him, unconscious and bald. Danny glanced behind him quickly and then back to Berger.

"Was that his hair?" he asked absently.

Danny shot into the air just in time to dodge the DJ's next attack. Danny shot a powerful ecto-beam and hit the DJ square in the chest. The DJ was knocked out of the air and landed on a BMW.

"Okay, has-been, time for your swan song," said Danny, taking out the thermos. He popped the lid off and sucked in a screaming DJ. He quickly put the lid back on. "No encore, please." He grinned.

"Freeze!"

Danny looked down and saw all the cops who were pointing their weapons at him. "Time to go." He disappeared.

"Where'd he go?" asked Eric.

"I don't know," said Calleigh.

Horatio had a good idea.

"I want charges filed!" Berger was yelling. "I want those two in cuffs. I want them in jail for the rest of their miserable lives for what they did to my club, my car, and my hair!"

Horatio turned and went back to his Hummer.

"H, where are you going?" called Eric.

"To see a friend," said Horatio.

Eric and Calleigh watched him leave with confused looks on their faces.

* * *

Horatio pulled up to the Mansons' beach house. He knocked on the front door.

"May I speak to Mr. Fenton, please?" Horatio asked Jeremy.

"Danny!" Jeremy yelled.

Danny Fenton came to the door looking like he just woke up or was in a fight. His hair was a mess and he didn't appear to be completely with it. He looked at Horatio and tensed slightly.

"Yeah?" Danny asked.

"Is there somewhere we can talk privately?" Horatio asked.

Danny led him to the kitchen. "Would you like coffee or something? I don't think we have any donuts."

"No, that's fine, Danny," Horatio said with a small smile of amusement. "Do you know what happened tonight?"

"Uh, no," Danny said slowly.

Horatio noticed a shifty glint in the teen's eyes.

"Danny Phantom saved a nightclub full of people from a ghost who was about to kill them," he told Danny.

"Phantom's in Miami?" Danny asked, trying to sound surprised.

"I think you already knew that," said Horatio. "Danny Fenton. Danny _Phantom_."

Danny opened his mouth.

Horatio put his hand up. "Mr. Berger wants to press charges against Mr. Phantom. But it is difficult to arrest a ghost. I would know."

Danny closed his mouth.

"Thank you," said Horatio.

Danny frowned. "For what?" he asked.

"For helping us," said Horatio. "I would like to know what's going to happen to Trevor Diamond."

"He'll go to prison," said Danny. "Phantom will take him back to Amity Park with him and put him in ghost jail."

"Ghosts have prisons?" asked Horatio.

"You'd be surprised how similar they are to us," said Danny.

"I don't think I would be," Horatio told him.

"So what happens now?" asked Danny. "Are you going to tell anyone?"

"It's hard enough trying to do your job," said Horatio. "Even harder when you have someone looking over your shoulder all the time. Or when you have to look over your shoulder."

"Thanks, Lieutenant," said Danny.

Horatio nodded.

After the lieutenant left, Danny went back up to the room he shared with Tucker. He and Sam were playing a video game.

"What was that about?" asked Tucker.

"Lieutenant Caine knows," Danny said.

Game controllers were dropped and both avatars died. Sam and Tucker whirled around. "What?" they cried.

"This is not good," said Sam. "They could arrest you."

"I didn't actually say I was Phantom," said Danny. "The one guy wants to press charges against him. But Lieutenant Caine figured it out."

Tucker laughed. "Maybe you aren't as clueless as I thought you were."

Danny glared at Tucker.

"So what happens now?" asked Sam.

"Same old, same old," said Danny. "Only we now have a friend in the Miami-Dade Police."

* * *

A few weeks after the ghost incident with people dancing until they died, Horatio received a letter in the mail. There was no return address. He opened it up.

"Dear Lieutenant Caine, I would like to inform you that the ghost of Trevor 'DJ Twilite' Diamond is now staying in the Ghost Zone's prison. You shouldn't have any problems with people dancing until they die for a few centuries. They really take the murder of the living seriously in the Ghost Zone. -DP."

Horatio smiled. "Thank you, Danny."

* * *

**I know the ending sucks. But I want to thank you for staying with me all this time. I kind of lost the wind in the sails with this story a long time ago, but I was determined to finish it one way or another. I rather have a crummy ending then leave a story sit unfinished. With all the other projects I've taken on in the past weeks and with work, I'm lucky just to get this done. Thank you for reading.**


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